Alibaba unveils smart cockpits, AI glasses, and new strategic partnerships at WAIC 2025

Developed in partnership with semiconductor giant Qualcomm and smart cockpit solutions specialist Banma, the system leverages Qwen's visual and multimodal understanding capabilities. Powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8397 platform, it delivers a more natural, seamless, and proactive AI experience, transforming human-vehicle interaction.

Banma's intelligent assistant, Yan AI, leverages Qwen's language understanding, visual processing, and contextual reasoning capabilities to enable seamless human-vehicle interaction. Drivers can use natural voice commands to book a restaurant, buy movie tickets, get directions, or find the fastest route. Beyond responsive responses, Yan AI anticipates user needs by suggesting interior temperature adjustments and recommending music playlists for long journeys, making the mobility experience more enjoyable and seamless.

Global companies leverage Qwen to drive efficiency and innovation

Alibaba also highlighted how major international manufacturers are using Qwen to transform their businesses, from accelerating new product development to designing smarter, more sustainable cities.

For example, Signify, a global leader in lighting, launched the industry's first GenAI agent, powered by the Qwen language model developed by Alibaba. Using Qwen's advanced capabilities to handle complex tasks, this GenAI agent was integrated into Signify's Interact City Flex connected street lighting system, which monitors, controls, and manages street lighting, further reducing energy consumption while improving maintenance efficiency. The enhanced system allows users to create and deploy AI-driven dimming strategies using natural language commands. It also detects anomalies and suggests corrective actions to optimize infrastructure management and maintenance.

For Hans Nikol, Head of Open Innovation at Signify: “The digital transformation of urban environments relies on intelligent systems that make city management more efficient and sustainable. By leveraging Alibaba’s Qwen model in our GenAI agent, we are empowering cities to proactively reduce their energy consumption and lower their operational costs. This collaboration represents an important milestone in smart city management and underscores our commitment to innovation and our vision for greener, better-lit cities.”

Quark AI Glasses: Alibaba's smart glasses with AI integration

Alibaba is entering the AI wearable market with the launch of Quark AI Glasses, its first in-house developed smart glasses. Powered by the Qwen language model and Quark's multimodal AI capabilities, the device is designed to serve as an all-day wearable smart assistant, combining style, comfort, and functionality.

Ergonomically designed, they offer features such as hands-free calling, music streaming, real-time language translation and meeting transcription, making them particularly suitable for professionals, travelers and tech-savvy users.

These glasses are designed to provide seamless interactions through AI, with extended battery life and high image quality, ensuring an optimal user experience. Users can access navigation via Amap's innovative near-eye display system, optimized for walking and cycling. They can also use Alipay to view and pay, compare prices on Taobao while shopping, or receive travel alerts from Fliggy, all through voice interactions. Quark AI Glasses are expected to be officially launched in China by the end of 2025.

As the Qwen series continues to evolve, with over 400 million downloads and over 140.000 derivative models created, it has established itself as one of the most widely adopted open source AI series globally.